Atticus Capital Closing Main Hedge Fund

In a letter to investors, Atticus Capital founder Timothy Barakett announced that he is closing two hedge funds and handing back $3 billion to investors. Atticus is closing its flagship fund and a smaller vehicle, but will continue to operate its $1.2 billion Atticus European Fund.

The Wall Street Journal notes that in his letter Barakett cited personal reasons for his decision. Barakett said, "After 15 years of being singularly focused on building and managing Atticus, I believe it is time to reassess my future."

Atticus was one of the highest flying hedge-fund firms over the last decade, surging from $6 million in 1996 to $20 billion in late 2007. But 2008 was a bad year for the fund as it lost 25%. The fund is also down 6% so far in 2009, as other funds have surged on the market snap-back. Filings from the hedge fund recently shows that it has scaled back its stock positions dramatically.

Barakett's hedge fund had an activist-bent and he was instrumental in pushing Phelps Dodge into a merger with Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) back in 2007.

Copy of Letter:

August 11, 2009

Dear Investor in Atticus Global, Ltd. and Atticus Global, LP:

I am writing to inform you of my decision to close the funds I manage, including Atticus Global, Ltd. and Atticus Global, LP (together, the “Atticus Global Fund”). This decision will come as a surprise to most of you, especially given that we have received redemptions of less than 5% of capital and your loyal support over the past 15 years.

I have used the market’s recent strength to begin liquidating a significant amount of our holdings. We currently expect that the portfolio will be fully liquidated by September 30th and that we will be in a position to return approximately 95% of your capital in early October. The balance of investor capital will be returned after the final audit is completed, which should be later this year.

My decision is solely a personal one. After fifteen years of being singularly focused on building and managing Atticus, I believe it is time to reassess my future. I intend to spend more time with my family, pursue my philanthropic interests and establish a family office to manage my own capital and charitable foundation.

Atticus (the management company) will continue to operate, and the Atticus partnership will remain intact. In addition, it is my partner David Slager’s intention to continue to manage the Atticus European Fund.

I founded Atticus in 1995 and launched our first fund in January 1996 with less than $6 million under management. The Atticus Global strategy was launched in December 1996 and has compounded investor’s capital at over 19% net annually since inception.1 I am very proud of the Atticus Global track record and our net returns through July 2009 are shown below:

Atticus Global S&P 500
1 year -13.3% -20.0%
3 year 0.8% -6.2%
5 year 9.3% -0.1%
10 year 13.6% -1.2%
Inception 19.3% 3.9%
Cumulative 835.3% 62.3%
1 The Atticus Global Fund was formed in April 1999. The statistics set forth in this letter include the period from the inception of the Atticus Global strategy in December 1996 as a managed account.

I am also very proud of Atticus’ overall investment results: from the inception of our first fund in January 1996 through July 2009, funds managed by Atticus have generated almost $7 billion of profits for our investors.

I have been blessed with great investors, partners, employees, and a lot of good luck. I am thankful and sincerely appreciative of the trust and confidence you have placed in me and our organization.

Sincerely,
/s/ Timothy R. Barakett

Timothy R. Barakett
Founder, Chairman & CEO

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